GRAND RAPIDS, MI — During the week, Todd Geerlings is the superintendent for Hastings Area Schools. However, on Saturday afternoons, Geerlings can be seen on Big Ten football fields across the nation officiating games.

Geerlings is one of about 40 former and active high school, college and professional officials who are lending their knowledge and expertise to current Michigan High School Athletic Association officials at the Officiate Michigan Day on Saturday, July 27, at DeVos Place.

“It’s great that Michigan is getting an opportunity to do it,” Geerlings said of hosting the national event. “We’ve got some national level people coming in. Great opportunity for all the Michigan officials to see and hear from people of the top level of all different sports.”

Officiate Michigan Day kicks off the National Association of Sports Officials Summit, which takes place through July 30 in Grand Rapids.

Professional-level officials in attendance Saturday include NFL officials and brothers Carl Paganelli Jr., Dino Paganelli and Perry Paganelli, all of whom are from the Grand Rapids area. Other professional officials include NHL official Dan O’Halloran and NBA officials Joe Crawford and Bill Kennedy, who led a seminar with former NBA official Steve Javie called “Life in the NBA” detailing the travel and other daily activities an NBA official encounters during the season.

Geerlings, who will be starting his second year as superintendent of Hastings in the fall after being an assistant superintendent for seven years in Muskegon Mona Shores, said being an official and a superintendent has helped him do both jobs better.

“The two jobs are very, very similar,” said Geerlings, who has been a Big Ten official since 2005. “I’m a better superintendent because I officiate, and I’m a better official because of being a superintendent. It’s all about working with people and trying to make sure you follow the rules or follow the contracts.

“Both of (the jobs), you are trying to do those things to make sure it works out for kids. That kids get their education, or kids get their fair chance to play a fair game.”

Geerlings said one of the more memorable games he has officiated was a game between Northwestern and Illinois that was played at Chicago's Wrigley Field in 2010. There was not enough distance between the edge of one end zone and the stands, so the teams could only move the ball in one direction.

“It went very well,” he said of the game. “Some extra preparation on Friday night and Saturday morning by the crew, and we were able to pull it off seamlessly. Nobody ever knew we were changing directions.”

The closing speaker at Officiate Michigan Day was Jerry Markbreit, a retired NFL referee who has worked the Super Bowl four times. Markbreit told a story about how a decision he made in a game changed the face of his career.

During a game between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers in the 1980s, Bears quarterback Jim McMahon was slammed to the ground by Charles Martin after McMahon threw an interception. It was a play Markbreit said he wouldn’t have seen had he made his way toward the spot of the interception.

“You never know, on any given day and in any given game how important something you do in that game is,” he said. “The most important call of my entire 43-year career occurred in that game.”

Markbreit said it is important to reach out to local officials.

“It’s important to reach out to all of the officiating world,” said Markbreit, who worked as an NFL official for 23 years. “NASO has delivered a program that goes around to different parts of the country every year at this time to honor local officials.”

Markbreit said he was impressed with the amount of people who showed up.
“When you see a turnout like this on a Saturday,” he said, “when they could be out playing golf, and spend a whole day doing all of the things that they are going to do today and listening to experts give them things that they probably wouldn’t hear anywhere else.”

Markbreit said just having the opportunity to officiate a Super Bowl was the most memorable part of his career.

“Getting a Super Bowl game means that, for one year, you were the best at your position,” he said. “So, that in itself is the most rewarding.”

O’Halloran, who lives in Brighton, has officiated in the NHL for 21 years and said he was looking forward to speaking with local officials.

“Not being downtown here before, what a great city,” O’Halloran said of Grand Rapids. “You think you’re in a marquee city in the United States. This city is awesome. This facility, itself, is incredible.”

O’Halloran said one of the things he wants hockey officials to keep in mind is to remember to keep the game fun and not take it too seriously.

“It’s a great way to stay involved in the game,” he said, “and a great way to teach and mentor people that are interested in officiating.”

Jarod Seccombe, a graduate of Forest Hills Northern and an MHSAA hockey official for the past nine years, said he wants to network with other hockey officials working in the state.

“(It will) give me an opportunity to get a lot of different viewpoints and a lot of different experiences that I can bring back to my local association,” he said.

Seccombe, who officiates in the Metro Detroit area, said he came to Officiate Michigan Day to improve his officiating skills.

“Listening to (former NHL referee Terry Gregson) and Dan, I’m hoping to pick up some techniques,” said Seccombe, 26. “Pick up a couple stories to take back. Basically, absorb some information … on how to approach the game that I can take back to the group of guys that I work with and, potentially, share with them.”

Geerlings had a few pieces of advice for anyone wishing to become a football official.

“Work as many snaps as you can,” he said. “Drive wherever you have to go, get as much as experience as you can. Be a good listener.”